It is perhaps difficult to claim street cred when you were raised in a mansion in Columbus,Ohio,worth an estimated $US2 million ($3.1 million).
Ramaswamy’s parents were successful before they came to America from Kerala. His father,Ganapathy,was an engineer and patent attorney and his mother,Geetha,was a psychiatrist.
Even with his advantages,Ramaswamy’s academic and business achievements are impressive.
Initially educated at a state school,Ramaswamy transferred to St Xavier High School before attending Harvard University,graduating in biology and earning membership of Phi Beta Kappa,arguably America’s most prestigious society recognising academic achievement.
At Harvard he dipped his toe into conservative politics,chairing the university’s political union as well as taking to the stage as Da Vek.
Graduating in 2007,he co-launched StudentBusinesses.com – a website for budding college-age entrepreneurs and started working on Wall Street for QVT Financial,a Wall Street hedge fund manager.
Already successful in business,he found time to graduate from Harvard Law School,a course he reportedly undertook for “the intellectual experience”.
“I’m in this race to take the America First agenda far further than Donald Trump ever did.”
Vivek Ramaswamy
In 2014,he left QVT Financial to set up Roivant,a pharmaceutical enterprise which specialised in developing drugs which had been abandoned by other companies.
Initially,the company prospered,having little problem raising capital. He was feted by Forbes magazine as one of America’s richest entrepreneurs under 40.
He was even accorded the accolade of being asked to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange – cancelling his honeymoon to do so. He is now a father of two.
There were also setbacks – in January 2021 he stepped down as Roivant’s chief executive to write books and develop his conservative political profile.
He set out his political philosophy inWoke Inc. –released in August 2021,it became aNew York Times best seller.
His onslaught on woke philosophy continued with appearances on Fox News and the release ofNation of Victims:Identity Politics,the Death of Merit,and the Path Back to Excellence,in September last year.
Ramaswamy’s political positions are uncompromising often to the right of rivals for the nomination.
A practising Hindu,Ramaswamy said he shared the same values as Christians.
He opposes any measures to reduce carbon emissions. Ramaswamy also would stop aid to Ukraine,arguing that Kyiv should concede territory to Moscow as a quid pro quo for Russia breaking with China.
A Ramaswamy administration would send troops to the southern border to stem the tide of immigration,even though this would violate an 1878 law which outlaws the use of federal armed forces for law enforcement.
On abortion,he supports a six-week ban,but says the decision should be left to states.
Ramaswamy has been fiercely critical of what he describes as “woke” corporations as he tries to nail his colours to the conservative mast in the culture war sweeping the US.
Affirmative action,he says,is a cancer on American life. He vowed to run the US in the same way as Elon Musk operates his businesses,pledging to slash government spending,wiping out departments like education.
An uncompromising supporter of Donald Trump,he has vowed to pardon the former president if he is convicted – a tactic which appears to be paying off with a growing number of Trumpistas saying he would be their second choice.
But far from being “Trump light”,Ramaswamy has vowed to go further.
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“I respect what Donald Trump did,I do,with the America First agenda,but I think he went as far as he was going to go.
“I’m in this race to take the America First agenda far further than Donald Trump ever did.”
Ramaswamy toyed with running for Ohio’s US senate seat last year,before rejecting the idea.
Now he has his eyes on a bigger prize.
The Telegraph,London